In the month of August, a rise by 9.3% was witnessed in China's power generation from a year earlier - marking not only a record high, but also its fastest growth in 15 months. This growth clearly reflects that the nation has started moving on the recovery path.

On Friday, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics displayed that electricity output was 344.32 billion kilowatt hours last month, which was 2.9 percent higher than the July output. Furthermore, the August rise was also the third monthly rise in a row, as the consumption in the world's second-largest power market recovered from slumps of late 2008 and early 2009.

As per a Beijing-based power analyst with a listed securities firm, who declined to be identified due to company policy, "Rising demand due to economic recovery was part of the story. Low base figure played a big role." He said: "The impact of the global financial crisis has already been felt last August. I expect September power output to grow at double digits mainly because of low base effect.

" After Beijing demanded the closure of many industrial factories and plants in northern China - in order to deduct pollutants emission so that the Beijing Olympics could have better air quality -, power demand was badly hit in August 2008. In spite of this, last year China underwent the nastiest summer power crunch in at least four years, as coal-fired power plants restricted production due to the high-ceiling coal costs and tight supplies.